Punters who lost money on 4/1 shot Don't Tell Jack at Punchestown on Thursday will be aggrieved to learn that they are not entitled to a refund even though the Enda Bolger-trained horse did not run in the race.

Due to a mix-up in the stableyard another Bolger-trained horse, Centreofattention, ran in place of Don't Tell Jack in the 12.30pm race, a novice chase, finishing seventh of the nine runners.

The error was not spotted by officials or connections until later in the day and, as the 'weighed in' signal had already been given, it was not possible to change the result on the day for betting purposes.

When Don't Tell Jack was incorrectly presented in the parade ring as Centreofattention for a later race on the card, the mistake was discovered.

A statement by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board read: "Prior to the running of the fifth race at Punchestown, the Raceday Stewards withdrew Centreofattention, trained by E Bolger, as the horse presented to the IHRB for scanning after saddling as Centreofattention was in fact Don’t Tell Jack, also trained by E Bolger.

"It subsequently became apparent that the horse Centreofattention had participated in the second race and not the declared horse Don’t Tell Jack, finishing unplaced.

"The Raceday Stewards interviewed Mr. Frank Berry (McManus’ racing manager), the Authorised Representative for E.Bolger, M.P. Walsh, rider, Joan Taylor, IHRB Veterinary Officer and James Casey, IHRB Veterinary Assistant.

"Since the winner alright had been signalled following the second race, the Raceday Stewards were unable to take any further action in relation to that race, and referred the entire matter onto a Senior Racing Official for further investigation."

A similar incident happened at the Galway Festival in 2023 when a member of Jessica Harrington's team saddled the three-year-old Aurora Princess in a two-year-old maiden, which she won comfortably. Harrington was later fined €2,000 over the incident.

It almost happened again at this year's Galway Festival when two horses trained by Ciaran Murphy which were running in the same race had their saddles switched. The error was spotted before the race by an official.

At the time IHRB Senior Stipendiary Steward Liam Walsh said: "Every horse is scanned coming into the stable yard for every meeting in Ireland and, when the veterinary department can, they have another person scanning horses entering the parade ring.

“However this doesn’t happen at every meeting and, while it is definitely something we are working towards, it is a budgetary issue.

"We'd like to think the error would have been caught further along but it was the scan which picked it up. For example at Tipperary two weeks ago, we had the same thing with a trainer who had three runners in the same race but when one of the jockeys went to mount, realised it wasn’t his saddle.

“However, introducing parade ring-scanning is something we need and is something I have been strong on doing since the Killarney (September 2023) incident. It absolutely is a priority for the IHRB now.”